iZombie: “Dead Air” Review

iZombie Season 1 Episode 8

Liv’s latest personality shift ends up causing plenty of friction between her and some of the people closest to her.

The CW

DEAD PEOPLE GIVE THE BEST ADVICE.

Note: The following review goes into detail about the episode. SPOILER ALERT!

I’m really enjoying the pace at which iZombie is barrelling through this first season. Part of that is to do with the shorter episode order—which means less filler is required—but a lot of the credit must go to the writers. There have been several different stories running parallel to each other, and we’re now beginning to see them intersect in interesting ways. For example, Suzuki started showing signs that he could be a zombie, and within a couple of episodes he knows Liv’s secret and we know for certain that he’s under Blaine’s thumb. This is the kind of thing that could have been gradually built up over the course of a season, but we’re getting stuff like this every week now, and it’s great.

The “brain of the week” wasn’t the most entertaining, but that was probably the point. Having Liv acting like a pushy radio shrink actually allowed her to have some big conversations with people, most notably Ravi. Ravi has dove headlong into his friendship with a zombie, and his immediate loyalty to Liv has been a highpoint of the show. Ravi getting angry over the fact that Liv didn’t think Peyton would go out with him was a good moment. Their friendship needs to have some ups and downs, and it was about time they had a little bit of a fight. Of course Ravi appeared to get bitten by his zombie-rat towards the end of the episode, so a whole lot more trouble could be coming his way. I’m not too sure if they’ll go the zombie route with Ravi so soon, but it looks likely right now, and that would be another bold move from the writers.

Major’s side-plot has been pretty interesting to follow so far. Completely unbeknownst to him, he’s actually the character who has been closest to blowing the whole zombie outbreak thing wide open. He got the hell beaten out of him in jail, and then took another hit when he found out those missing kids had turned up dead. Not even a pep talk from Liv has deterred him, though, and he remains determined to bring those responsible to justice. The key piece of the puzzle is the brain he found in DuPont’s car. I wonder how much more Major has to see before he puts two and two together and comes up with “zombie.”

The CW

I’ve been a big fan of Liv and Lowell’s relationship so far, but even that looks destined for troubled waters. The twist that Lowell has been getting his fresh brains from Blaine was another clever way of tying everything together, and it was an especially morbid twist when Liv realized through a memory that she was eating a piece of Jerome’s brain. This did answer one question I had: Are the zombies who eat Blaine’s brains experiencing visions of people getting brutally murdered all the time? It seems like an uncomfortable side effect to a meal. I’m wondering is everything completely as it seems with this situation, but it does certainly seem like there’s only one way Lowell could have gotten his hands on that brain. We’ll have to wait until next week to find out for sure.

THE BREAKDOWN

The case this week wasn’t all that interesting, but the cases have been one of the least important aspects of iZombie so far. Strong character interactions and intersecting storylines are really driving this show forward, and making it a fun hour of TV every single week. We were left with several cliffhangers, with the possibility of Blaine and Liv coming face to face again and Ravi potentially facing “life” as a zombie. Everything is coming together nicely, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next week.

88/100 – Great

Is Ravi going to be the next addition to the undead horde, or will he be able to avoid such a terrible fate? Tweet me @OldSnake24. Also, be sure to follow us @YouNerded!

*We do not comment on anything relating to previews for the next episode and beyond.

Michael Spring is a staff writer for YouNerded.com. If he's not playing Metal Gear or watching some excellent TV show, he's more than likely asleep. For some witty banter and the occasional rant about football, you can follow him @OldSnake24 on Twitter